Pros:+Insanely large amounts of content to digest, which leads to hundreds of hours of gameplay+Recruitable characters allowing for an insurmountable set of party variations+Character class “hiring” allows for unique builds among recruited team members+Exploding Prinny’s

Cons:–Series newcomers like myself will be confused due to the sheer amount of content–Itemization is not very well explained for newcomers to the franchise

Editors Note: This review is a work in progress and could be updated at a later date if any noticeable mechanics or additions were missed during our review.

Lets just say you’re new to the series like myself, but thanks to friends you have some knowledge of it, and your love for the Prinny hasn’t been lost. Welcome to where I started out when first entering in the review code and assembling my team to take out the Netherworld Boss who just happens to be an asshole. To be blunt, he’s a large one, and one we were glad to see would be our nemesis throughout the game. The question is, what makes Disgaea a series that has gotten such a large fanbase? The truth is – for me it’s the Prinny’s. Who doesn’t love those adorable and explosive Penguins who get tired of being cannon fodder? I know I sure as heck loves them.

Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance is ludicrous. It’s a over-the-top (eagle-eye view) JRPG that has filled itself with tactical combat, and insane amounts of customization to make your characters fit the situation. While this is something that many newcomers to an RPG series would find dumbfounding, but to those who have a sense of humour and a understanding for Japanese comedy? This is right up your alley. As I stated, reviewing this game I came in as a newcomer, someone who had little to no idea of what was going on, what I was getting myself into, or what the Hell to expect, and the game gave me an idea of that fairly quickly with semi-decent tutorials that guided me on how to use vendors, worlds, battle capabilities, Revenge mechanics, and even level advancement before really picking up the pace with the game’s story. Through these first few hours, I did find myself momentarily face-palming to the extent that my face I’m sure was indented, but this was merely because the game is punishing even as you learn the mechanics. It is not odd to see your Prinny’s die or your recruits get thumped to death. Why? It happens if you aren’t prepared to foresee just what your enemies might be doing.

After a few turns around the bend of dying cast members, it was finally easy to get a hang on the game’s combat system, which to say the least came with some difficulty, but thanks to a few lengthy cutscenes I was on my way to min/maxing my characters equipment and assuring myself that survival would be possible with the right team members. This is done in the game’s central hub area where you will collect characters, items, restocking supplies, and even selling items that are no-longer useful and have basically become a waste of bag space. Thanks to the games approach, I found myself rather happily enjoying the ames progression system since it didn’t just throw me in cold turkey expecting me to get slaughtered and not enjoying the title. Thanks to its complex gearing system, I have found myself at times heading over to Google or hitting up a few of my friends that are diehard fans of the franchise in order to find out what stats I need to benefit certain characters. Thanks to the minds at Nippon Ichi Software there are a few new additions that veterans of the franchise can look forward to, which includes a never-ending foray into the Item World in order to obtain new secrets as well as ultra-powerful rewards or simply going to the mission screen and revisiting old missions when not taking an endeavor into the DLC options.

While the game is an RPG its focus clearly comes from the strategy line of games where players will, as stated before, find themselves planning out important moves during each turn before assaulting an enemy’s offense or defense, depending on the situation. While support cast characters are fun to have, the game does tend to show off Killia seems to take the stage as one of the most powerful characters out there, and remains doing so throughout the game, but with the new advanced class system, it eventually balances itself out to some extent. This includes upgrading abilities, doing quests to assure character progression, and even attaching new items to each of the support characters hired in order to assure their efficiency in combat. The nice part about these recruits? They can be leveled up if players have just enough coin to ensure their existence.

One of the systems that comes unique to the combat is the ability to lift characters, items, and even enemies in order to assure that players have an advantage over the battlefield. This even includes attacking crystals in order to assure you keep the offensive or even the “tower” system mentioned before by lifting characters up and launching them across the map to pass by obstacles or to simply get them in place for combat. One thing that shines in combat is the capability to get characters revved up as friendlies take damage and die, this is where both Kiilla and Seraphina show their capabilities. Seraphina can charm all male enemies in an area and cause them to attack each other, this can change the tides of battle quite quickly. While other characters compared to Killa and Seraphina are quite useless when it comes to ultimate abilities – that’s not say that they aren’t useful and can offer tactical advantages in combat.

While Disgaea 5 is no means a shortcoming to the series. Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance not one that is known for an amazing narrative, but instead it is known for its combat, hysterical moments, mind-boggling cut scenes, and even extremely anime-like graphics that are crisp just as they are beautiful. Disgaea 5 is a game that serves up an amazing experience for those who want hilarious dialogue and mind boggling damage counters in a tactical RPG title.

Our review is based upon a pre-release of the final version that was given to us by the games publisher. For information about our ethics policy please clickhere.

Final Score: 7 out of 10

About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over onTwitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.